Summary:
In an Alternate Universe where Werewolves live amongst humans the Las
Vegas Pack are forced to make a hard decision when new legislation
alters their lives.

Leaving
Las Vegas, Lights So Bright

Archie
bolted into the breakroom, eyes wide as he disregarded his normal
attempts at 'human-ness'. The slender Asian stopped on a dime,
the inhuman grace that had him pegged as a werewolf fluidly asserting
itself. Bobby and Warrick, the lone occupants of the breakroom,
looked up, frowns on both of their faces.

"Nick?
Greg? Any ideas?" Archie barked out, the harsh voice tersely out of
character for the normally cheerful young man.

"Well,
I'm here," came a voice off to Archie's left, "Greggo's
gettin' some coffee, I think. What's got you all worked up,
Arch?"

Greg's
uncharacteristically subdued voice answered that for him, "I'm
guessing, this, right Arch?" he said, brushing past the
now-gathered CSIs and labrats to switch on the breakroom's TV.

"… new
legislation in Nevada. The 'Lycanthrope Registration Act' was
passed today and will put in place changes for the werewolf
community. The most notable of these being a curfew that prevents any
lycanthrope from being out and about after midnight. We cross now to
Bailey Evans on the street, talking with some of the people most
affected by the new legislation. Bailey…"

Archie
shook his head, switching off the TV and turning to face Nick and
Greg, "A curfew?"

Nick still
stared at the blank TV screen, "What are they thinkin'?" he
whispered.

"They
aren't thinking," a new voice spoke up.

All heads
in the breakroom swung around to look at Grissom. The entomologist
looked over his glasses at them all, before his eyes finally settled
on his three werewolves; Archie, Greg and Nick. The miniature wolf
pack looked back at him. Grissom absently noted how Archie and Greg
(both born werewolves) unconsciously kept Nick in the middle, the
oldest of the three men becoming the youngest of the three wolves. He
almost smiled at the absurdity of this, and elaborated.

"They
aren't thinking of werewolves as people in their community,"
Grissom said, "To the people who made the 'Lycanthrope
Registration Act', werewolves are drooling, raving fiends who howl
at the moon. They aren't the guy who serves them in the 7/11 or the
woman who cuts their hair…"

Warrick
continued his train of thought, "… or the CSI who keeps their
city safe."

All faces
turned to the wolf pack again. Expressions ranging from disbelief to
anger to sympathy crossed over the faces of every non-were in the
room. It was Greg who finally spoke up, turning to face Archie, head
dipping slightly as he spoke to the Asian, his alpha.

"What do
we do now?"

Archie
frowned slightly at the submissive gesture, then glanced in askance
at Nick. The frown grew deeper as the Texan flicked his eyes away and
tilted his head, baring his neck submissively to Archie. Archie's
eyes widened and he blinked down at himself, blushing sheepishly as
he noticed the sub-vocal growl, wide-footed stance and tensed
shoulders. He scrubbed a hand over his face, forcibly relaxing
himself. His blush grew deeper as Grissom shot him a small smirk.

Archie
sighed, glancing over at Grissom, then back at his pack, trying to
shoot them a reassuring smile, "I have no idea."

The three
of them went back to Greg's house after shift, knowing that they
had to sort something out before Ecklie sorted it out for them.
Archie sat in Greg's living room nursing a coffee and a headache.
Greg was in the shower. Nick was in the kitchen, Archie could smell
the bacon frying. A low purr of appreciation rumbled up through his
chest. Nick's quiet snicker floated through from the kitchen,
making Archie grin sheepishly.

"Y'all
only love me for my bacon," the Texan deadpanned, sliding a few
rashers onto each of their plates and pouring coffee into their mugs.

He nudged
a plate towards first Archie, his alpha, then Greg, his beta, before
pulling one towards himself. The three men ate quietly for a few
moments, enjoying both the food and each other's company. Greg
frowned down at his empty plate, unusually quiet. Archie sat lost in
thought, finishing his coffee and smiling softly as Nick refilled the
whole pack's cups. Surprising them all, it was Nick who spoke
first.

"What's
gonna happen to us?"

Archie
blinked abruptly, "Us?"

Greg
stared at his alpha over the top of his coffee cup, the slightly
yellow glint in his eyes the only sign that he was even the slightest
bit emotional, "Yeah, us, Arch… The pack. What? You thought you
could get rid of us that easily?"

Nick's
slightly hurt frown made Archie bluster his way through an answer,
"No… I just… didn't… I thought…"

Archie
paused, taking a deep breath to try and collect himself, "I thought
I was a kinda… interim alpha… someone that would stand in until
you guys joined a real pack."

Nick shook
his head abruptly, "Hell no. Take a look at me, Arch. You say boo
to me and it takes everythin' I got not to bare my neck for ya.
Y'all could use that to your advantage, but ya don't. If I joined
a real pack, I'd be nothin' more than a piece of ass."

Archie's
eyes flashed at that, but before he could respond, Greg began to
speak, "Put me in a real pack, I'd be dead within a week," he
said flatly.

Nick
shifted a little closer to his beta, offering comfort, as Greg
continued, "The lab explosion left me scarred, so I wouldn't be
sought out, as Nicky so eloquently put it, as a piece of ass. And,
I'm not completely dominant, like you. I'd have people trying to
fight me for dominance left, right and centre," Greg's eyes
glinted yellow again, "And sooner or later, Arch, I would lose."

Archie
picked himself up, rolling his shoulders and taking a steadying
breath. He had a pack to take care of now. A flood of affectionate
warmth rolled through him at that thought. A frown creased his brow
as thoughts of the new legislation flitted through his mind. Wait…
legislation… where had he read that…? He eased himself up from
the table, not seeing Greg and Nick's confused looks, and headed
for his laptop, quickly calling up a search engine.

Archie's
fingers flew over the keyboard, calling up and dismissing windows.
Where was it? He knew he'd seen it before. A growl rumbled up from
his chest. He felt a warm hand on each of his shoulders and made the
effort to tone down the growling. Wait… there it is! A triumphant
grin spread across the Asian werewolf's face as he hit the final
key, calling up an article, before turning to face Nick and Greg.

"I knew
I'd read something about this somewhere," he said, gesturing to
the article.

Greg
murmured as he read over Archie's shoulder, "'NYPD First To
Establish Werewolf Taskforce'," he blinked, then looked down at
Archie, "No way…"

Nick
growled softly as he tried to look around Archie, then Greg, finally
tucking his head under Greg's arm so he could read the article,
"Y'all are thinkin' New York, Arch?"

Nick
buried his face in his hands, before looking over at Archie's
raised eyebrows, "I did try…" he said over the din.

"It's
up to you, New York… New York!" Greg bawled, finishing the song,
making Archie and Nick wince on the final note.

Archie
raised an eyebrow at him, "You finished?"

Greg
seemed to ponder that for a moment, before answering, "Why, yes…
yes I am."

Walking
into CSI the next evening, with Nick and Greg next to him, Archie
felt nervous. He sighed, pausing out the front of Grissom's office.
He felt Nick nudge him with his hip and saw Greg shoot him a grin,
before he reached up and knocked on Grissom's door, waiting for an
answer before pushing it open.

Grissom
looked up over his glasses at the three werewolves. He'd be sad to
see them leave. But they couldn't stay on night shift because of
the new legislation, and there were no vacancies on day shift. He
took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, hoping that
Archie had come up with a solution for himself and his pack, because
Grissom was out of ideas.

Archie
reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of
paper, "We'd like to apply for a transfer," he said, holding
out the piece of paper for Grissom to take.

Nick shot
his supervisor a small smile, "Any reference letters you feel like
sendin' our way would be appreciated too, Griss."

Grissom
quickly scanned the article Archie had given him, "Werewolf
Taskforce," he said softly, looking up at the three men, "New
York has the right idea."

Archie
nodded, then broke into a relieved smile as Grissom handed him three
sets of transfer forms, "Bring them back filled in," Grissom
said, looking at them over his glasses again, "I'll make sure
Ecklie approves the transfer."

The three
men sat in the breakroom surrounded by piles of paper. Archie
squinted down at his forms, pen scratching to a halt. What?
Description of wolf form? He lifted his head as he heard first Nick's
pen, then Greg's stop on either side of him. He shot them each a
wry smile and gestured to the offending question. Greg snorted,
shaking his head. Nick pushed his reading glasses up his nose and
sighed in frustration.

"Description
of wolf form? What in the hell, man. It's not like I make a habit
of preenin' my tail in the mirror," he grumbled, before blushing
furiously as he received a curious look and a snicker from Warrick as
the African-American paused to get a soda from a nearby vending
machine.

Archie
pulled his laptop out of his bag and opened it on the table, tapping
a few keys, "There we go," he said turning it, triumphantly, to
face the others, revealing a photo of three wolves, a black, a grey
and a russet brown.

Greg
looked at the photo for a second, "That's great, Arch…" he
said, turning the laptop back to face his alpha, "But which is
which?"

Archie
opened his mouth to answer, then looked dejectedly back down at the
photo, "Oh…"

Archie bit
back a retort as the rest of his pack snickered at him, looking back
down at his forms instead. He shut down the laptop and put it back in
his bag. Still snickering, Nick and Greg looked up as someone cleared
their throat from the doorway. Bobby Dawson and David Hodges stood
there, the former looking slightly bewildered and the latter looking
decidedly amused.

"So, you
really don't know which is which in that photo?"

"No,"
Nick said sourly.

"But,"
Bobby said with a frown, "Surely y'all would know which one y'all
ain't?"

Greg spoke
up, "Wolves see in black and white, Bobby D."

"Ah,"
Bobby nodded in understanding.

Nick
dropped his glasses on the table, "We're gonna have to shift,
aren't we?"

"Only
two of us," Greg said, "The leftover will be the third in the
photo."

"I
should probably be scared that that made perfect sense, right?"
Hodges said to Bobby, who nodded sagely, eyes still on the
werewolves.

Nick shot
them a pleading look, making the two more dominant werewolves melt.
Archie stood up and held out a hand to Greg, who allowed himself to
be pulled to his feet. Archie shot a quick glance up and down the
hall. Greg mimicked his actions and glanced at his alpha. Archie
looked back at him.

"On
three?" the Asian man asked.

"One,"
Greg started, still scanning the halls.

"Two,"
Archie continued, scanning the halls the other way.

"Three!"
they finished together.

The two
men dropped to their haunches, outlines blurring and shifting. Nick
shivered in his seat, feeling the residual power of the
shape-shifting fly over him. Hodges and Bobby watched with interest.
Two wolves stood in place, one black, one russet. Nick grinned at the
two wolves and nodded.

Hodges
spoke up, "How do you know which is which this time?" he asked
curiously.

The two
wolves began their blurring transformation back to human as Nick
answered, "Archie's the black, Greggo's the russet," the
Texan replied instantly.

Hodges
blinked, "How could you possibly know that?"

Nick
scratched his head and shrugged, looking over as Archie spoke up
breathlessly from his spot, crouched next to a panting Greg on the
floor, "How did you know that, Nick?"

Nick
pushed his glasses back up his nose and picked up his pen again,
"Alpha's an alpha in any form," he said calmly as he started
writing again.

Archie
dropped the pack's paperwork off to Grissom, trying not to let his
nervousness show. Grissom gave him a small smile, making Archie shake
his head as he left. Heaven help the world if that man ever got
turned.

Greg
caught up with his alpha later on in the shift, dropping down into a
chair in the AV lab next to Archie, "Did Ecklie sign off on our
transfers?"

Archie
nodded, still concentrating on the CCTV footage in front of him, "Our
two weeks notice starts tomorrow," he said, distractedly, fingers
flying over the keyboards.

Greg sat
back in his chair, "New York, New York, huh?"

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